Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-10-28
whose ribs were confused by the sharp

: whose ribs were confused by the sharl
, corners of their gripsacks. In tn
, crowd the girl held out her hand ant
Bruce pressed it i'll an instant, and
) then, with choking sensation in hi
, throat, hurried away. following the in
, structions of the tramps. He passed
around the train and, on tho opposit.
side, ensconced himself behind little
| coal-house.
"All aboard!' shouted the conductor
) in tones of awful pomposity.
Then, as tho engineer and fireman
, turned to their tasks, Bruce swung him
self unobserved on to the "blind end
(the end without door, of the bag
Il gage car, directly behind the tender.
At every revolution of the wheels the
speed increased, and the cold, biting
atmosphere rushed by, an icy flood
that pierced Bruces thin raiment and
made his teeth chatter like castanets.
Faster and faster went the train as the
iron-horse plunged onward. The Ell.
gineer had received orders to make up
the lost time as far as possible, and was
endeavoring to do so. With exultant
whoops the engine swung and roared
through small towns behind time, but
striving sturdily to recover the lost
minutes.
AS they dashed around curve and
started TO descend long, rapidly fall
ing grade startled cry from the en-
gineer, heard even above the roar of
the wheels, and followed instantly 10y a
whistled call for brakes, came to
Bruces ears, and he glanced quickly
ahead. just before them, toiling up as
if to meet them half way, came a heavy
freight engine, dragging behind it its
attendant train OF box-cars. Bruce
saw the two begrimed figures fling
themselves from the cab and go tumb-
ling down the steep "rip-rap" sides of
the grade. Only the space Of an in
drawn breath he delayed, and then:
hurting himself as far as possible from
the step, he went whirling downward,
the rocks of the "rip-rap" wounding
him on every side.
Then came the crash and the two iron
monsters struggled madly with each
other for an instant and then left the
track and went rolling down the en-
banlSment to lie useless masses of
twisted and shattered iron from which
poured the steam in binding, kissing
clouds. The cars came piling down in
an inextricable mass upon the riven
and distorted engines.
For a few seconds Brucel lay stunned,
but the horror of the sounds Of agony
and cries of terror seemed to call his
wavering senses back to life and action.
What need to tell OF the horrid sights
aud sounds, Of The means of anguish,
thc screams of pain? Such accidents
happen often. We know the tales of
horror all too Well
Bruce wiped away the blood that
tricllled from cut beneath his hair,
and strobe to where the shattered cars
lay piled upon each other Sew
cral men joined him. They fell
to work like Troians. and soor
eStricated several of the passengers,
some of whom assisted in turn. One
by one the members of the Nonpareil
Company were dragged from the midst
Of the wreck. The comedian and lead
ing man We're laid side by side, toe
badly injured to stand. The leading
man at once began TO relate an incident
OF a former wreck in which he had
been. When he caught his breath and
asked a question of the comedian, that
gentleman did nothing but roll over the
other way and groan. His jaw had been
broken by the iron arm of seat.
Then the fire broke out, how, no one
knew, and began to lick up the
shattered timbers of the wreck as il
they had been finder. In the excite
ment of the moment Bruce forgot the
weakness of his recent illness, hut now
his strength seemed to desert him.
Presently every one had been rescued,
the little band of heroes thought, and
they rested from their labors, and
watched the red flames deyour the
splintered wreck. Suddenly one rushed
toward that portion of the wreck that
the fire had not yet reached Then he
shouted:
Here's one more!"
Bruce Collins heard the call, and
something within seemed to tell him
that the zone more" was Florence Yer.
non.
Strength rushed back to his limbs,
and he dashed to the wreck, and stand.
ing beside the first comer gazed down.
ward, and beheld hand protrudina
through a crevice between the timbers,
almost at the bottom of the pile. With.
out word he grasped the ak that
some one held, and crawled down tc
where the slim hand seemed appealing
; silently but so eloquently for release.
He pressed the little hand and felt an